Qualification Profile of nondestructive Testing Personnel

Abstract

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is a tool to inspect complex products such as aircraft, trains, power plant and chemical installations, and to identify defects during production, operation and maintenance of a unit and - most importantly - it allows the surveillance of a product without influencing its intended use. While NDT often plays a critical role in maintaining the quality and guaranteeing the safety of human and environment, it must be performed with a sufficient reliability. It is state of the art to distinguish four major influences on reliability: The intrinsic capability of the method, the application conditions, the human operator and the organizational context. This is described in a modular model of reliability in NDT. In this work the Organizational Context of NDT was evaluated by a review of existing publi-cations in this field and by drafting of models using the “expert estimation” method. A survey within German service inspection companies was performed to study their situation and to analyze organizational influences during their work. The Organization Context of NDT is characterized by internal and external factors. The Ex-ternal Context Factors are Safety Culture, Social/Ethical Culture, Market/Financial Frame, Regulatory Requirements, and Technical Rules. The Internal Context Factors are described by the processes: Business, Information and Delivery. The validity of the Model of External and Internal Organizational Contexts was proved by the findings of the survey. Improvements for the work processes of the service inspection companies and the training of the operators have been proposed.